I’ve written several times of our new breeding bird species, Siberian Nutcracker (nøttekråke), that is colonising the forests around Trondheim as a new breeding species as a result of widespread planting of Pinus cembra in the 1970s, one of the sources of pine nuts and an important winter food for this species at home in Siberia.
I’ve heard their characteristic call over the last few days and was able to film them this afternoon! To my great surprise, it was an adult bird accompanied by two young which can be seen begging for food, something I’ve never seen before! They have presumably bred in the forest nearby and have come down to richer feeding grounds in the garden!
ENJOY!
A week ago I noticed my oldest Pinus cembra was full of male flowers (pictures at the bottom) and yesterday it was shedding pollen as you can see in the videos. In cold climates pines are the best bet for nut production although I can grow hazels and walnuts here. I’ve told the story before as to how Siberian Nutcrackers “planted” (read: cached) pine trees in my garden from plantings of this species locally on Malvikodden in the 1970s which started bearing fruits in the 1990s. Because people have planted the food plant of Siberian Nutcrackers, there is now an isolated population of breeding birds in this area and the birds are actively spreading their food plant by caching the nuts for winter food. I’ve had one cone on my tree so far a couple of years ago
I didn’t see what happened here until I replayed the video. A Siberian nutcracker (nøttekråke) at the top of a spruce tree must have had a hazel nut in its pouch, brings it up, juggles with it in its bill before pouching it again!
Over the last week there’s been up to 4 Siberian nutcrackers (nøttekråker) in the garden. Unsure what they’re eating at the moment as the hazelnuts aren’t ripe yet, but they always appear at about this time.
Anyway, sitting in my outside “office” for breakfast I heard something I’ve never heard before….what I believe is its song, a strange assembly of grating and sweeter notes, heard (you’ll need high volume to hear it) up to about 0:35 when it’s raucous jay like call begins and it flies to the top of the tree!
A siberian nutcracker disturbing the peace in the woods :)
Breakfast in the garden, and a Siberian Nutcracker landed in the tall spruce tree, followed by a greenfinch…
Today is forecast to be the year’s warmest, 27C, already close to 20C at 7am!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden